US pauses ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy

The head of the US Customs and Border Protection has said it will stop referring adults who arrive illegally in the US with children to prosecutors until the Department of Justice can agree a policy that won’t involve separating children from their parents.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders denied that the decision amounted to the end of the “zero tolerance” immigration policy, saying: “We’re not changing the policy. We’re simply out of resources.”

In a speech yesterday, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, but did concede that the practice of separating families who arrive illegally wasn’t correct, CNN reports.

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“We’re going to continue to prosecute those adults who enter here illegally,” he said. “We’re going to do everything in our power, however, to avoid separating families.”

Following yesterday’s announcement, Donald Trump repeated his call for illegal immigrants to be deported immediately, a move described by The Guardian as “tantamount to a proposal for the suspension of law”.

“People must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the US illegally,” the US president tweeted, “If this is done, illegal immigration will be stopped in its tracks – and at very little, by comparison, cost.”